Wednesday is Internet blackout day for many Web sitesfrom Reddit to Wikipedia to Mozilla, all of which object to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Google has also pledged to voice its opposition by altering its homepage.

The bills would allow the Justice Department to obtain a court order and go after overseas, "rogue" Web sites that traffic in fake goods, from purses to prescription drugs. The DOJ could have these sites removed from search engines, while copyright holders could have the agency target sites they believe to contain infringing content. Detractors believe SOPA and PIPA are too broad and could have unintedned consequences for legitimate sites.

We've already weighed in on the Top 5 Objections to SOPA, PIPA, but we also asked some PCMag staffers for their take on the bills. Most would agree that something should be done about piracy on the Web, but few were in support of the pending bills.

Neil Rubenking, Lead Analyst, Security
Remember how the RIAA went ape, hitting penniless college students with million-dollar lawsuits? The RIAA and like-minded groups are big backers of SOPA, which would bring an equivalent level of nastiness to the Internet. And DNSSEC, the current effort at end-to-end protection for domain name resolution, goes down the tubes if SOPA passes. Reps who vote for SOPA better hope there are no hacktivists out there with the fine-tuned expertise to totally ban an individual from the Internet for life.

Michael Muchmore, Lead Analyst, Software
Yes, theft of intellectual property is wrong, but it shouldn't be protected at the cost of free speech and an open Internet. The bills also put an absurd amount of onus on search and content sites, and make smaller sites' ability to defend themselves against being blocked impossible. And though the new bill doesn't require DNS filtering, it still allows it. If this happens, we'll be joining China and other repressive governments in lacking a full, open Internet.

Sascha Segan, Lead Analyst, Mobile
The tide has turned. I was at a conference in DC yesterday populated by federal lawyers and Congressional staff members, and the general opinion seemed to be that SOPA is failing and it's time to find a new approach that actually incorporates the tech world's input. Of course, there's always an outlier: in this case, a lawyer from the MPAA who insisted they would keep ramming this sort of thing down our throats until we swallowed it.

SOPA is a perfect case of a disproportionate reaction to a real problem. Lawless Web sites full of pirated content are a real problem, but breaking the Internet isn't the solution. The approach of getting rogue Web site owners cut off from payments by the ITC [via the OPEN Act] got some positive murmurs at the conference, although I'm sure the ITC judge I was discussing it with at one point wasn't thrilled about the prospect of the additional workload. That panel is already the adult supervision for the smartphone patent wars.

I've been pretty happy recently with how public opinion has been turning around various tech issues affecting consumers: first, the public outcry against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, and now this. It looks like democracy still works to some extent, or at least democracy can work to tip the balance between existing, powerful opposing forces.

Samara Lynn, Lead Analyst, Networking
The greatest current resource we have as Americansno, as a global societyis the access, availability and free exchange of information via the Internet. The potential for censorship, abuse and infringement of that freedom to digital information is very real should SOPA/PIPA pass. This proposed legislation is akin to having libraries monitored or even shut down because there is a chance that a book may contain a piece of plagiarized work. Asinine. If a person, organization or business has a legitimate grievance of copyright infringement or piracy, we have a legal system in place to address those greivances. Leave the Internet alone and instead go after offenders on a case-by-case basis. If ever there were a case of using a sledgehammer to kill an ant, it is SOPA.

Joel Santo Domingo, Lead Analyst, Desktops
IP is a precious thing. For example, every writer on PCMag has had their work pirated at one time or another. However, this legislation goes far beyond the seemly in that a site can be virtually shunned and shut down over a perceived misuse, even if that "misuse" is otherwise protected by fair use or parody laws. Do you really think that there will be no repercussions if a Fortune 500 company has to shut down their Web site because the same server cluster has a joke email thread containing an image of say, Paula Deen riding Anthony Bourdain piggyback while both are drinking melted butter at Disney World? The existing anti-piracy laws suffice. We don't need another, especially not this broadly written mess.

Jamie Lendino, Senior Analyst, Mobile
I can't believe something as misguided and idiotic as SOPA and PIPA have gotten this close to becoming law. But then again, we're talking about the RIAA, which sued a dead grandmother, and politicians, who believe the Internet is a series of tubes that can be filled with little paper messages.

The way corporate interests are casting this is if you're against something called the Stop Online Piracy Act, that must mean you have no problem stealing from others. That is not at all the point of the protest. If we learned anything from the failed AT&T and T-Mobile merger, it's that the American people have actual power against even the largest corporations and industry groups, no matter how much money they pay lobbyists to mislead the public.

This isn't about hating corporations or capitalism, or about condoning stealing. It's about protecting free speech, preventing censorship, and educating certain portions of the government on something it clearly doesn't understand, if the DNS blocking fiasco is any indication.

Chandra Steele, Senior Features Writer
SOPA/PIPA is either lazy, uninformed legislation or deliberately designed to protect the questionable practices of the RIAA and MPAA. Whichever it is, it's a betrayal of the inherent trust American citizens are asked to have of the legislative branch.

Brian Westover, Junior Analyst, Hardware
Thumbs (Firmly) Down. There is definitely a need for content owners like movie studios and music labels to protect their content from piracy, but the proposed legislation isn't the answer. There are too few protections for fair use and it takes a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach that opens the door to serious abuse. Hollywood may be pouring a lot of money into this effort, but it's a giant step in the wrong direction. The current bills threatens the future of the Internet, and protect big media at the expense of everyone else.

Will Greenwald, Junior Analyst, Consumer Electronics
Thumbs down. Any piracy or copyright infringement SOPA could prevent would not justify the potential for abuse against people who would otherwise rightly claim fair use for content. Whether you review movies and games online or want to share lyrics with your friends, the way SOPA is worded could bring it to a fast and impossible to appeal halt. It makes no real allowances for people accused of copyright infringement to protest the accusation, and that makes it a bad law in every sense. There is no room for recourse.

John C. Dvorak, Contributing Editor
Most analysts will tell you that either of these two bills could kill the Internet as we know it. But Wikipedia's protest and other blackouts will not solve anything. The only effective measure to takeunless you love these lawsis to directly target the supporters and co-sponsors of the bills. For more, see The Right Way to Protest SOPA.